Leaderboard

Dammit, I came into this thread late I just saw the post about bippos gearbox and got excited

While this may or may not have been asked before, there's probably been newer members joining since then [like me!]... So, basically, what got down that road to a love or passion for bikes and biking? [and does anyone else get confused when your get odd people that that refer to bikes as those things without engines? (: ] My [long] story: For me, it's actually been a slow thing. Back in my mid 20s, I was living in the south coast of England [bournemouth], and I had some money. But for some foolish reason, I decided to put that money into the other choice of things to spend it on: drums. Wee mistake there. Never kept at it, as I ended up always living in flats, and not wanting to disturb neighbours. Flash forward ~8 years, and I finally had money again. Bikes more and more came up in conversation with friends and I kept talking about my poor choice in the past. The desire came full force after [shamefully?] getting hooked on Sons of Anarchy, along side shittier and shittier commutes to work. I made the decision that, if my car repairs started getting too high in its impending MoT, I'd say f...[wait, what's this forum's policy on swearing?] ..k it, and finally get my bike license. My car's MoT cost me £400 and a holiday to Germany. I booked my CBT the next day. Now, it wasn't the best of CBTs, as I had massive problems with the clutch control, largely due to misunderstanding instructions, and continually dumping it. This led to me dropping the bike almost straight away. While I passed the CBT [no idea how], I was left rather anxious about riding. I didn't want this to stop me yet, so gave myself a "2 lessons, see how it goes" After those 2 lessons, I was enjoying the riding, but still had clutch problems - no where near as bad. I did also manage to earn the nickname "Captain Chaos" from one of the instructors, due to being a bit unpredictable: "You're great 95% of the time. That other 5% has me chewing through my helmet!" Unfortunately, new money issues meant I couldn't do the lessons needed, and I didn't feel comfortable getting a bike on my own. It was 8 months before I was next able to get back to it. And, I wanted to do it right. I asked for a lesson where I could just stay in the yard and have my clutch control worked on. After about an hour, I was asked if I wanted to go on the road yet. Initially refusing, the instructor tells me to do a U-turn, in however wide a turn I wanted. I did. "You've just performed a turn in a space not much wider than a parking space... We're going on the road. You're ready" That lesson was probably the best decision I could have made. No longer fearing the clutch, I was able to enjoy the ride so much more. I'm still not licensed though, as a new job and city had me move before I could book any tests. But I'm almost there. I've found the love of filtering passed stopped cars in rush hour ["so long, suckers!"], and the thrill of taking a corner just right, and also realising how much better your own bike is, compared to the ones instruction centres have [gear changes... oh, my] That's my waffle over. Now tell us all yours! EDIT: And on the 2nd of October '14, I passed my test, with 4 minors.

So I recently acquired a brand new ybr125 0miles. After a bit of a shakey start (I felt so uncomfortable it was unreal just so nervous on the road) I hit the 40 mile mark on the bike and suddenly out of nowhere I fell in love. Having owned the little baby for a week now and covered just over 80miles I look forward to comuting to work everyday as its just so relaxing. There is no real reason for this post to be honest but perhaps someone like me who was nervous as hell after passing there cbt will see this and know it does become so much fun. Picture of bike is below. Www.Imgur.com/p56p1nf

i still get that tickle in my balls after thirty + years of riding , congrats on the right choice of transport.